Hopefully you found your visit useful in finding out more about franchising and what it can offer you in terms of choices about your future. The seminars at the shows can be very useful and help you to understand more about how a franchise works and what can be expected of you as a franchisee.
You may have come home with a carrier bag full of leaflets or maybe you provided your contact details to some of the exhibitors and now your inbox or phone is filling up with emails and messages.
It can all seem quite overwhelming but now is the time to sift through everything you now know and start to narrow things down.
If you went to the franchise show armed with a plan of action and intending to focus on certain franchises, think about whether the exhibition has opened your eyes to other opportunities or made you think differently about whether franchising is what you want to do.
Rule things out!
I suggest that a quick action to take as soon as you return from the show is to identify the franchises and contacts that do not suit your needs. For instance, if your aim is to buy a franchise to have a management role, you will probably want to rule out any of the ‘owner operator’ franchises. Conversely, if you don’t want to employ staff and would rather have a franchise where you deliver the service or product yourself, then rule out management franchises.
Consider how much you have to invest
Be clear about how much money you have available to invest in a franchise as that could also rule out some higher investment level franchises. Generally, banks will consider lending up to 70% of the start-up costs for established franchises, or 50% for newer franchises. So you don’t need to have the full amount available at the outset but will need to borrow if not.
Start to do some research into the franchise itself
There will be more detailed research to do before you part with any money but look at the franchisors you have on your shortlist. How long have they been franchising? Are they members of the British Franchise Association? What can you find out about them on their website and social channels? Do they have franchisee videos and case studies for you to look at? What about their customers, how do the reviews look?
This could give you more comfort in the franchises you are looking at or maybe it rings some warning bells instead!
Rule some in – for now!
You have ruled out some of the franchises that clearly don’t meet your requirements, but how about setting up a short-list if you saw some franchises at the show that you really want to explore further? Are you looking at a sector with several competitor franchises? Speak to several if so, getting a feel for how they operate. Set up some initial discussions to find out more, including whether there is a territory available to suit you, either where you live or near enough to work for you and for the franchise.
These initial discussions will help you to further refine your list of possible options.
Review and move forward
If you have narrowed things down enough and think you might have found the franchise for you, then you could be ready to start the process of becoming a franchisee. A good franchisor will have a process of discovery, research and planning and will want to take you through that process to ensure you have enough information to make a decision.
You are in the driving seat in terms of your timescales and decisions but remember that franchisors will be assessing you as well. They will want to ensure that you have the right ambition and skills to be a good fit with their network and that you will follow the system and structure to succeed.
There will be plenty more research to do once you have decided on one or more franchise opportunities to explore in depth and I’ll be covering this in future articles. But hopefully your exhibition visit will have given you a good understanding of franchising and will help you to find the best one for you.
Good luck!
